Pakistan Army treats cricket as war, here's how it mocked India after Champions Trophy victory

The India–Pakistan cricket rivalry is one of the most intense sports rivalries in the world. Whenever there is a match between both the countries, tension prevails on both the sides, until the match is over. An India-Pakistan cricket match has been estimated to attract up to one billion viewers, according to TV ratings firms and various other reports.

The arch-rival relations between the two nations, resulting from the extensive communal violence and conflict that marked the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan in 1947 and the subsequent Kashmir conflict, laid the foundations for the emergence of an intense sporting rivalry between the two nations who had erstwhile shared a common cricketing heritage.

While this rivalry has been going on for decades, there seems to be a new vigour in the Pakistan Army to further spread hatred and politicise the issue. History was made on June 18 night when Pakistan defeated India in the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 at The Oval in London. It was a big win for them because the lowest ranked team decimated the strongest team in the tournament. However, the way the Pakistani Army celebrated, is ridiculous from many angles.

Pakistan Army mocked India by sharing photos of celebrations in restive Balochistan with a caption: “To whom it may concern’. Lay off”.

After posting photos of Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa with victory (V) sign and soldiers dancing over Pakistani triumph over India at the Oval, military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor shared pictures from Balochistan where people were celebrating the victory. “And this is Our Balochistan. ‘To whom it may concern’. Lay off,” he wrote along with photos.

The pictures were apparently in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech last year in which he had raised the issue Pakistan’s atrocities on people of Baluchistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Ghafoor also posted a video showing people in Srinagar purportedly celebrating Pakistan’s victory over India. “And this is………Srinagar!!” he wrote.